Washington (AFP)

The American Medicines Agency (FDA) granted temporary authorization on Monday for a new kind of treatment against Covid-19, synthetic antibodies manufactured by Eli Lilly, only for mild and moderate patients, and not for hospitalized or oxygen patients.

The treatment was developed specifically against the new coronavirus.

Others, like remdesivir and dexamethasone, have received varying levels of clearance after showing some efficacy, but these molecules existed before the pandemic and have been reused against Covid-19.

A little over a month after the request of the American Eli Lilly, the FDA granted an "authorization for an emergency use" to the new treatment, based on the results of a clinical trial carried out on 465 adults not. hospitalized.

It is restricted to adults and children over 12, weighing at least 40 kg, and who have "a high risk of progressing to severe Covid-19 and / or hospitalization".

The treatment, bamlanivimab, is given as a single intravenous injection.

President Donald Trump, in early October, received a similar treatment, a cocktail of "monoclonal" antibodies developed by the American company Regeneron, and which he extensively praised after his recovery.

These antibodies mimic what the immune system does after infection with the coronavirus, by blocking the tip of the virus that allows it to attach to and penetrate human cells.

It is considered to be more effective during the initial phase of infection, when the antibodies still have a chance to control the invader, and not during the second phase of Covid-19, when the danger is no longer the virus itself. same but the overreaction of the immune system which attacks the lungs and other organs.

In the clinical trial, bamlanivimab reduced the proportion of patients hospitalized or going to the emergency room within 28 days of injection: 3% in the group of patients treated, versus 10% in the group of patients who received a placebo .

This authorization will allow American hospitals and doctors to use the treatment outside of clinical trials, but still in an environment that allows them to respond to any serious allergic reaction such as anaphylactic shock.

But this is not a permanent authorization: it lasts only during the emergency of the pandemic, and can be revoked afterwards.

The data are limited, but the logic of the emergency authorization is to lower the usual threshold of scientific evidence in order to add a weapon to the arsenal of response to the health crisis, the FDA considering that the risks of effects serious secondary are limited.

"It is reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of bamlanivimab (...) exceed the known and potential risks," wrote FDA Scientific Director Denise Hinton in the clearance letter.

The antibody treatment will allow the United States "to hold out until the distribution of safe and effective vaccines," said Health Secretary Alex Azar, who expects the first vaccines before the end of the year.

© 2020 AFP